8 roadside curiosities worth the stop

By Jennings Brown, Special to CNN

Updated 2021 GMT (0421 HKT) February 11, 2014

Photos: 8 roadside attractions8 photos

Roadside America – Salvation Mountain creator Leonard Knight wanted to express that "God is Love." This 50-foot tall adobe mountain in the California desert was his canvas. Knight died Monday at age 82.

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Roadside America – This stucco and adobe Prada Marfa "store," near Valentine, Texas, is actually an art installation created by art duo of Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.

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Roadside America – Ruby Falls is a 145-ft waterfall deep inside Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Tourists have been visiting the dramatic underground site since the 1930s and show no signs of slowing down.

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Roadside America – Biosphere 2 was built in the 1980s to research space-colonization technology. That mission didn't work out and now it's a University of Arizona research center.

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Roadside America – Construction of the labyrinthine Winchester Mystery House went on for 38 years.

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Roadside America – Wall Drug is 76,000 square feet of Americana. In business since 1931, the store in Wall, South Dakota, is one of America's best-known roadside attractions.

Some people use churches, sidewalks or subway cars. Leonard Knight chose to build a 50-foot technicolor adobe mountain in the desert of Southern California in order to spread his message that "God is Love." Knight passed away on Monday at age 82, according to the Los Angeles Times.

For nearly three decades, Knight built the mountain out of adobe and hay, and he painted it with swerving colors and messages, with the hope of sharing that simple message in a big way. And he's succeeded. At least 50 people visit this giant example of outsider art each day. Knight used to greet visitors until he was hospitalized in 2011.

A group of volunteers now maintain the site. Paint donations are always welcome.

You've seen the pictures on Beyoncé's Tumblr and your trendy Austin friend's Instagram. No, it's not a Prada store. It's not even in Marfa. The "store" is actually an art installation about a half-hour drive northwest of the small west Texas town that has become a pilgrimage destination for artists and hipsterati.

The $80,000 sculpture was created by Elmgreen & Dragset in 2005. The art duo of Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset wanted to leave it alone forever so that it could decompose into the high desert surroundings, providing a commentary on materialism. But when vandals broke in and stole all the shoes three days after it was finished, the artists decided to make repairs and add video cameras. Don't worry -- you can still be as ridiculous as you want when you hold your photo shoot.

US 90; Valentine, Texas

Ruby FallsChattanooga, Tennessee

While we've come to fear sinkholes, Ruby Falls is proof that they're not all bad. (Although we sure wouldn't have wanted to be walking over Tennessee's Lookout Mountain around 30 million years ago.)

Located 1,120 feet underground, this 145-foot waterfall -- one of the largest publicly accessible underground waterfalls -- was caused by this natural phenomenon.

Stalactites, stalagmites and other cave formations are also explained on the guided cave tours. Tickets are $17.95 for adults, $9.95 for kids ages 3 to 12.

What, you didn't know that earth is Biosphere 1? Well, that's what the developers of this gargantuan lab, known as Biosphere 2, in Oracle, Arizona, consider it. Oil millionaire John P. Allen funded the project hoping it would help us better understand how to colonize Mars.

The 3-acre glass temple included a rainforest, ocean, corral reef, wetland and fog desert. Seven scientists entered the bizarre ecosystem melting pot in 1991 for the first mission. For two years they ran experiments on how to sustain life in a contained environment and when they left two years later, the $151 million project was largely considered a failure. The team had extreme difficulty keeping themselves or the environment healthy.

The University of Arizona took over the property in 2011 and uses it for experiments and classes, and provides daily tours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Admission for adults is $20; $13 for children ages 6 to 12.

No one is quite sure why Sarah Winchester wanted the construction of her sprawling Victorian mansion to go on as long as she lived. The most exciting theory is that she believed she was haunted by those killed by her husband's invention, the Winchester rifle, aka the gun that won the West.

Apparently she thought she would keep these spirits away if she moved to California and never stopped building. Men worked around the clock until her death in September 1922, 38 years after breaking ground.

The result is an M.C. Escher painting come to life -- stairs lead to nowhere, doors open to reveal walls. If ghosts did make it to her house, they would probably get lost on the way to her room.

What does it take to become the country's most famous remote roadside store? Free water.

Ted Hustead's wife Dorothy came up with the idea in 1936, five difficult years after he bought the store: Put up signs offering ice cold water to the hot drivers on their way to Mount Rushmore. It didn't matter that most drug stores already provided this convenience. The idea worked, and now Wall Drug receives about a million visitors a year.

The humble store has grown to include a chapel, a western art museum, a department store and life-sized dinosaurs. But there's still a water well out back for any parched passers-by.

You'll have a hard time missing the spot. If you're driving on I-90 through the state of South Dakota you're sure to see one of the many, many signs dotting the roadside, with enticing messages ranging from the folksy ("Wall I'll Be Drugged") to the hippie ("Have You Dug Wall Drug?").

You thought Graceland was a must-see tourist destination? Take away the King's final resting place and the throne he died on and what does that leave you? OK, still a lot of awesome decor and pantsuits. But to truly experience Elvis' impact, you need to look at his life through the lens of a true fan. And by fan we mean radical zealot.

Paul MacLeod turned his small Mississippi home into an altar for the Holiness of Hound Dogs, and he welcomes visitors any hour of the day or night. He rarely sleeps and claims to drink around 24 cans of Coca Cola a day.

Once inside you'll see two floors jam packed with more memorabilia than could probably fit into the original Graceland. There's even a bit of the original inside -- MacLeod claims to have 185,000 square inches of carpet that came from Elvis' former home.

200 E. Gholson Ave.; Holly Springs, Mississippi

Skunk Ape Research HeadquartersOchopee, Florida

Sometimes it takes obsession of a more obscure brand to make an excellent roadside attraction. Dave Shealy, for example, has been hunting for the elusive skunk ape since he says he first sighted the smelly Sasquatch relative at the age of 10.

You can find all the hunting methods and tips that he's accumulated over the years at his Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. You can also visit his bird and lizard zoo and get pointers on where to search for one of the seven to nine mighty beasts that Shealy is sure live in the surrounding Everglades area.